CHICAGO — Living to 100 is easier than you might think. Surprising new research suggests that even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a decent shot at reaching the century mark.
“It has been generally assumed that living to 100 years of age was limited to those who had not developed chronic illness,” said Dr. William Hall of the University of Rochester.
Hall has a theory for how these people could live to that age. In an editorial in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine, where the study was published, he writes that it might be thanks to doctors who aggressively treat health problems of the elderly rather than taking an “ageist” approach that assumes they won’t benefit.
For the study, Boston University researchers did phone interviews and health assessments of more than 500 women and 200 men who had reached 100. They found that roughly two-thirds of them had avoided significant age-related ailments.
But the rest, dubbed “survivors,” had developed an age-related disease before reaching 85, including high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes. Yet many functioned remarkably well — nearly as well as their disease-free peers.
Overall, the men were functioning better than the women. Nearly three-fourths of the male survivors could bathe and dress themselves, while only about a third of the women could. The researchers think that may be because the men had to be in exceptional condition to reach 100.
“Women, on the other hand, may be better physically and socially adept at living with chronic and often disabling conditions,” wrote lead author Dellara Terry and her colleagues.
Rosa McGee is one of the women in the study who managed to avoid chronic disease. Now 104, the retired cook and seamstress also is strikingly lucid.
“My living habits are beautiful,” McGee said in an interview at her daughter’s Chicago apartment. “I don’t take any medicines. I don’t smoke, and I don’t drink. Never did anything like that.”
McGee credits her faith in God for her good health. She also gets lots of medical attention. And genes surely contributed — McGee’s maternal grandparents lived to 100 and 107.
But while genes are important, scientists don’t think they tell the whole story.
A second, larger study of men in their 70s found that those who avoided smoking, obesity, inactivity, diabetes and high blood pressure greatly improved their chances of living into their 90s.
In fact, they had a 54 percent chance of living that long.
Their survival rate decreased with each risk factor, and those with all five had only a 4 percent chance of living into their 90s, according to Harvard University researchers.
Those who managed to avoid lifestyle-related ailments also increased their chances of functioning well physically and mentally two decades later.
“It’s not just luck; it’s not just genetics. … It’s lifestyle” that seems to make a big difference, said lead author Dr. Laurel Yates of Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
